Oozing peach tree

ademink(z5a-5b Indianapolis)March 14, 2006

I am a new fruit tree owner and am puzzled by one of my peach trees. I noticed that at the base of the trunk there is a gelatinous substance oozing out of the tree. It's not sap because it's not sticky or hard...just jelly-like. Any ideas of what it might be and how I can address this issue?

You have the infamous peach tree borer. I purchased Spinosad at the Coop, and sprayed around the trunk of my plum trees that also had borers. It appears to have solved my problems. There's a wealth of knowledge on this forum. Hopefully, you will get some additional advice on how to resolve the problem.
James

Sometimes a young peach tree will ooze gel at the point where the scion is grafted to the rootstock. And yes, it is very much lik hair gel, and not necessarily gummy as you may have read.

Sometimes this leakage is caused by borers, but on a very young tree it is likely to be a graft that has not closed completely, coupled with the high sap pressures of early spring. Hose off the gel and look carefully around the base of the tree. If you do not see borer holes you are in the clear. Just leave the tree alone and it will heal itself up. It's also not a fungus or other disease. I have had this happen several times on young peach and nectarine trees.

James's case may have been different. He may have really had borers since he saw the holes.

No I haven't seen that, but I'm not surprised it can happen to vigorous young trees in certain weather and moisture conditions. Something must have made sap pressures rise sharply in your trees. I'm pretty sure the cracks will heal themselves, but when they stop oozing I guess it wouldn't hurt to apply a fungicide to those points to ensure no disease enters before they close themselves.

Hmmm, I thought I had the peach borer on my nectarine tree, but the holes are not at the base but are on the trunk. As if they split open, like bfreeman said. I live near Richmond so my conditions are probably like yours, Jellyman. Do you think it might be due to the cool weather we've had this spring?

I really can't say what might be causing splits on your trunk, but things like this do happen and often heal themselves. I wouldn't think cool weather would cause this, but who's to say? So long as you do not see the round holes occupied by borers, there is no treatment that would be helpful, so you don't have much choice but to wait and see what happens.

I've had this peach tree ever since we moved into the house, 6 years ago...don't know how long it was there before. I have never noticed this before, but THis jelly (like the guy above said, mine isn't sticky or sappy..but like jello) is in spots all OVER the trunk all the way up and down....like it's sprouting out all over. And dripping off in clumps onto my driveway...it's like THE BLOB! I trimmed off some of the branches this fall ...could it be because of that? I guess I'll try hosing it off. The tree has fruit and leaves that look fine, but I must say overall the trunk seems sort of weak. Any advice?

If it's not borers, then you may have a bacterial canker disease on your peach tree. If it drops all it's leaves this season, it is a good candidate to be replaced. Peach trees seldom recover from a bad bout with bacterial canker. I have taken out several peach trees for this reason, and replaced them with new trees which are now healthy and producing.

Looks like the remaining two peach trees I have are developing the same issues. Leaf drop hasn't happened yet but they are starting to wilt. I snapped off a twig on the branch and I can see that the center of the twig is browning out.

Mega jelly oozing around the base of both trees (girdling it) - one dwarf and one regular. Should I bother to even leave them or should I put them out of MY misery? lol

I have a feeling they won't survive, based on the other tree and how it died.

While trying to find an answer to my problem with my peach tree, I think I may have found an answer to yours. Check the link below. While the article is primarily on the Peach Tree Borer, at the end of the first section there's a note that says, "Note: Oozing wounds on peach that produce an amber-colored gum may be caused by cytospora canker, a fungus disease often confused with peach tree borer."

It would be nice to have an overall photo of the tree, but those of the base that you provided are enough to tell us all we need to know: Those trees have extremely serious problems with disease, borers, or both, and should have been removed some time ago. There seems to be no healthy wood left at all around the base of the trees.

I can't tell you for sure whether the problems began with borers, compounded by bacterial or opportunistic fungal infections, or all of the above, but when you see serious sap leakage around the base of a peach tree (or other stone fruit), and you are not able to clear it up in one full growing cycle by removing the borers, the tree is doomed and should be removed forthwith.

It might be nice to know the full Latin name of the particular disease afflicting your peach trees, especially if you are a Roman, but to the peach grower these distinctions don't make much difference. I have one of the better disease books around, from Mich. State Univ., and the list of fungal infections alone is quite substantial, falling under the overall classification of "gummosis". And that is not to mention the several bacterial infections that act in much the same way. The unfortunate truth is that there are no real cures for any of them, and they can be slowed or delayed only by pruning off affected branches and limbs. When the infection begins at the base of the tree, it is over, whether it began with borers or not.

Any tree you have that looks like the ones in the photo above should be removed as soon as possible, and stone fruits should not be replanted in the same hole or even close by. However, there are many decorative trees and plants you could put in that are completely unaffected by peach tree diseases, among them conifers, although in some areas they have their own disease issues. I am not so sure I would try dogwoods, which are disease sensitive wherever they are planted, and also subject to borers, although a different species from peach tree borers.

I noticed that my Plum Tree was also oozing a yellow/orange colored Jelly like substance in August/September. Here is a natural cure without using chemicals:

1) Take off the Jelly and wash out what you can, out of the holes it is oozing from.
2) Crush 2 tablets of Organic "Kyolic Aged Garlic Extract" (1,000 mg) and mix with 1/2 cup of Hydrogen Peroxide. You can buy the Kyolic Garlic at any Health Store or Pharmacy. Here is a link for what it looks like: http://www.kyolic.com/html/products/kyolic/kyoliconeperday.htm It is also very healthy for you to take and it will kill parasites in humans and in plants.
3) With your finger, place a lot of the mixture in the holes where it was oozing from and around the area it is oozing from.
4) Put the mixture anywhere you see a cut or hole in the tree.
5) Dig a little trench around the trunk and get near the roots, and make the same mixture again and pour it on the roots.

Do this once a month from September through February. Make sure that the tree gets plenty of sunshine and water.

The oozing stopped after the first treatment and now it is January and I see that the Plum tree started to flower. I will let you know how the plums taste in Spring.

We are in Tucson and have a young Santa Rosa Plum tree that has been oozing what looks like amber from near the base of the trunk. The newer ones are pale yellow in color and very sticky. It's easy to pull one off and it's super stick and the consistency of silly putty (but sticky!). The older ones (couple of weeks???) are dark orange brown in color and much harder. They range in size from pea to golf ball size hemispheres.

The bark of the tree (2 in diameter) is smooth grey brown, but this thin layer is separated in many places and a lighter tan fibrous bark is underneath. These globs only seem to be coming from the fibrous areas.

We water this tree everyday because it is right next to our garden (and it's 105 degrees everyday!). Is this too much? Are we causing the tree to ooze sap because it has too much moisture?!?

I have a miniature nectraine tree and the fruit is deform and sap oozing from thefruit.the tree and leafs are good no damage. just the fruit. the tree was here when I brought the house 8years ago every year I thin them out about two 5 gl buckits of fruit and still have about a buckit left on the tree.like to get some good fruit out of it. can you help?

I have a 2 year old, drawf peach tree. Last year it had beautiful blooms, then HUGE peaches ( white variety ). It had some "leaf curl", but, I just removed THOSE leaves, and it flourished! Now, there was a "blob" of gel like substance, just at the base? It was hard ( but, it's been cold here, so I don't know if it was hard due to the cold or ? )Amber colored gel. Anyway, I used a paint scrapper & removed the "blob". Then I mixed up 2 garlic tablets with some Hydrogen peroxide and applied it to the "Ooz site". Do I have a prayer? ( I want to treat the tree organically, only! ) And, I didn't see any insects? ANY ONE---HELP!!!!

Check the base by scraping at the bark. If it's healthy it will be green beneath and won't easily be rubbed off. Look for small tunnels. You can put moth balls against the base and cover with soil or try to get at any borers with a piece of wire. Usually if the bark oozes resin at the base it means you have borers. Unchecked they can kill your tree.

My case is just as below but for hers I could find no answer. Please help. I live in north of Iran ,a very humid and mediterranean area near Caspian sea, and my peach tree is tearing off all over her body. SOS!

I've had this peach tree ever since we moved into the house, 6 years ago...don't know how long it was there before. I have never noticed this before, but THis jelly (like the guy above said, mine isn't sticky or sappy..but like jello) is in spots all OVER the trunk all the way up and down....like it's sprouting out all over. And dripping off in clumps onto my driveway...it's like THE BLOB! I trimmed off some of the branches this fall ...could it be because of that? I guess I'll try hosing it off. The tree has fruit and leaves that look fine, but I must say overall the trunk seems sort of weak. Any advice?

Oh brother. All of a sudden, this being October,my peach and white nectarine are belching clear jelly from the sides of the trucks and on branches. One huge glob is in the niche of the nectarine where the tree branches into two larger branches. Yes a small hole there. Used a wire, cleaned it out, hopefully killed the borer(s) and now there were at least two tablespoon of clear jelly on the tree yesterday. ( also filled the hole with borer spray and triazicide. Is the tree just trying to heal? The peach tree had gob at the tips of the branches, can I prune them off? Thanks guys and gals.

A couple years ago I planted a peach tree in a container. My plan was to keep it on my patio and enjoy peaches from a dwarf tree grown in a movable container. I keep it in my garage in the winter. Last year it blossomed and produced a few peaches. This spring I pruned it, and later on it blossomed again and there were green growing tips on the ends of each of the branches.

About a week ago I moved it outside (the weather is comfortably warm now) and as I did so I noticed that all the blossoms looked as thought they were dead. (I usually pollinate them myself with a little paint brush since the tree is in my garage and blossoms a bit on the early side for the bees...) Within a few days, all the green growing tips had also shriveled up and withered.

When some of the dead blossoms fell off, I noticed a dark brown sap oozing out of the branches where they had fallen off. Today I noticed more of this dark sap on one of the branches.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what happened to my tree? It started off so well in my garage! Please let me know if you have any ideas...

I found a borer! We have a 3-year-old peach tree, and it was definitely the peach borer grub. The tree showed no obvious signs of trouble. It's July, and the tree is healthy and vibrant.

Luckily, my wife was digging around, pulling out some weeds, and discovered a big mess of the jelly-goo just under the ground surface. Sure enough, there was a big white caterpillar-size grub with a red head sitting snugly in a groove he'd eaten out in the trunk. The little stinker.

Hey guys been reading all the post and not sure what I have here. Not sure what I should do to solve it. I live in Maine and it gets cold here below zero in the winter. I see no signs of borring just spit open oozing spots. The leaves look pretty good but we had a bad problem with catipillars and sprayed aphids as well. I'm open to any advice and thanks for any given.. great sight you have here I think I'm going to enjoy it...